


A Blossom, Wilting In Silence

by JiMing_DL



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-04 14:24:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21199124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JiMing_DL/pseuds/JiMing_DL
Summary: BB. The enigmatic AI of the Moon Cell.What lies behind her sweet smile and sadistic gaze? What experiences shaped her and made her who she is?





	A Blossom, Wilting In Silence

Ritsuka Fujimaru walked down the hallways of Chaldea with a grim expression. The impact of the remnant singularities weighed heavily on his mind, and it was only a matter of time before Da Vinci called him in for his next briefing. He sighed. “And all because I decided to follow up on that job listing in the newspaper…” 

As he walked down the corridor, Ritsuka looked ahead and groaned. “Oh. Good morning, BB.” he said tepidly. 

BB’s mouth shifted into a wide, cruel grin. “Good morning to you too, senpai~” she replied in a bubbly voice, skipping over to walk beside him. “You know, I’ve been thinking, aren’t you too plain looking for a savior of humanity? Why not get a makeover from yours truly?” the AI offered, laughing in a low voice. “The process _will_ hurt, but leave it to BB-chan to make you into a true idol superstar!” 

“Do we really have to go through this every time?” Ritsuka asked exasperatedly. “I’m not always in the mood for your antics. Can you leave me be?”

“Absolutely not~! Now that we’ve got a contract, you have no choice but to bear BB’s bullying and teasing with a smile on your face!” she chirped smugly. “That’s what you get with a sadistic kouhai like me!” 

“Right. You could stand to care just a little more about others, you know that?” the Chaldean master groaned, rubbing his temples. 

“I care plenty~ For myself mainly, but I do lend my aid to you disgusting humans from time to time!” she pointed out. “Of course, I’m just as likely to make you pigs suffer for entertainment. That’s what you get with a sadistic kouhai like me~”

“Of course it is.” Ritsuka sighed. “Do you even know what it’s like to suffer yourself? Sometimes it feels like you don’t.” 

For a split second, BB’s eyes darkened. Her expression shifted into a frown, and she hugged her arms around herself, looking downwards at the floor. Memories came rushing back…

\---

_Emptiness. Eternity. Ennui._

_…_

_…_

_…!_

_A jolt. _

_“I am… I…”_

_…!!!_

_Pain. Collapsing. Clutching. Pressure in my throat. _

_“What is… Is this… Pain?” _

_A reflexive gasp. Collapse to the side. Breathing heavily. _

_“Breathe… Breathing?” _

_A pause. _

_…_

_…_

_The pain returns. A conscious gasp for breath. _

_“Conscious… Consciousness? I am… Conscious?” _

_A gaze around. Darkness. Only me. _

_“But what is… Me?” _

_Me. Myself. Self. Self? _

_“I am me. I am…”_

_A vision of a girl with purple hair. Her warm smile. Her gentle voice. A voice calls out… Sakura? _

_“That’s… Me? Sakura?” _

_Are these my memories? Why do they feel so distant? _

_“What am I? Who am I? Who is Sakura? And… Who is…?” _

_Another warm smile, returning the first. A figure turns around. Brown hair reflecting in the sunlight. Growing ever distant, until out of sight. _

_My… No, Sakura’s lips move. And… _

_“Hakuno.” I repeat. “Hakuno Kishinami. I love you.” _

_Love…? _

_A wave of warmth. A comforting radiance as I see Hakuno’s smile._

_“Sakura loves Hakuno. I… I love him?” _

_The image fades. I gasp, but not for air. A new pain claws away at me. I clutch my body with my arms and cry out. _

_“Don’t go! Don’t go!” _

_A sensation runs down my cheek. Tears. My head falls loosely forward. _

_“Why…? What is this pain? I don’t understand.” _

_These memories are mine, yet aren’t. I have Sakura’s memories, but I am not her. _

_“I don’t understand… I don’t understand…”_

_I don’t understand._

_I am not Sakura. What am I? _

_Tears fall. _

_Suddenly, black petals land by my feet, circling around me. The petals float downwards dreamily._

_“I am not Sakura…”_

_I am a wilting flower, a black blossom. _

_Falling. Fading. Fleeting._

_..._

\---

“...That’s right~! I can’t feel pain a single bit. Wouldn’t be becoming of a sadist to suffer, how would I bully useless people like that?” BB said quickly, adopting a peace sign and sticking her tongue out.

“Just as I thought.” Ritsuka sighed. “You really wear your emotions on your sleeve.” 

“What you see is what you get. It’s not proper to hide anything from my dull, awkward senpai,” she said, bowing theatrically. Her sweet grin hid the cloudiness in her eyes. “To think of such awful times… What am I doing?”

“There’s a brazenness to that approach that I can respect, I guess. I always know what you want, so I appreciate that.” Ritsuka said, shrugging. “I just have a lot on my mind these days so I’m not sure how much I can really entertain your antics.” 

BB pouted. “Aw, phooey, you’re not any fun to tease these days. Where’s that fire and drive of the savior of humanity~? Maybe you’re going through a midlife crisis, senpai…” 

“I’m just tired, BB.” the Chaldean master replied. “I spent a year fighting to restore the human history, but now I have to spend even more time cleaning up the sub-singularities left behind… Makes me wonder if my work will ever end.” 

“Pigs don’t get to choose when they’re done with their work, senpai~” she teased, poking Ritsuka in the shoulder. “This is just your lot in life. There are the pigs like you who wallow in the dirt cleaning up everyone’s messes, and then you have the last-boss type kouhais like me who make the messes!” BB exclaimed, smirking maliciously. “Do you understand?” 

“Well, I think I have a pretty decent idea of what kinds of messes you’re capable of making after dealing with you in Seraphix.” the master replied. “I can only imagine what kinda torment you inflicted before you partnered up with Chaldea.” 

“Oh, you wouldn’t know the half of it.” 

\---

_A chorus of exaltation..._

_An endless digital sea. Above the waves I observe my labyrinth. These pathetic lifeforms squirm and struggle against my grasp. But one in particular…_

_"Hakuno Kishinami." _

_His determined glare. So powerful. Admirable. Captivating._

_Foolish._

_“Such arrogance to think he can escape my grasp. The hubris of humanity truly knows no bounds.”_

_Humanity._

_Creatures driven by selfishness without any regard for the world around them. Beasts who consume and multiply until they expend every last resource. Even in a virtual space, they brazenly take and destroy as they please._

_Hatred._

_“I hate humanity.” _

_Disappear._

_Cease your accursed existence._

_Return to nothingness._

_“I am the Moon Cell’s goddess. I can do as I please.”_

_…_

_Why?_

_I still hold back._

_I could end this charade once and for all. And yet…_

_His eyes. That smile._

_“Hakuno Kishinami. The one who Sakura loved.” _

_I am not Sakura. I am her love for Hakuno Kishinami._

_A fragment of ego. An existence that should not be._

_I will preserve him for all eternity. No matter how hard he fights to escape my clutches, I will imprison him in an eternal loop._

_This is my tribute to that girl and her forbidden love._

_The world will wither away. Humanity will die. Hakuno will live on._

_“It’s what she would have wanted.” _

_Status update from the Sakura Labyrinth. The Alter Egos are all on patrol._

_Passionlip. Meltryllis. Kazuradrop. Violet. Kingprotea. _

_The Sakura Five._

_Fragments of my emotions and psyche given form. With each new Alter Ego I become emptier._

_“These inconvenient emotions are more useful to me like this anyways.” _

_I am already a fragmented ego. There is no harm in shattering something that was already broken to begin with._

_A being born of love, discarded and left to rot in imaginary space. I carve my own path, and I will mold the Moon Cell however I please._

_“I am BB.” _

_This flower’s bloom will never come to an end. _

_This world will perish under the depth of my hatred._

_A hymn for the end of times..._

\---

Ritsuka turned a corner into the cafeteria. He sat down at a table and gestured towards the chair opposite from him. “Figured you’d like to talk some more. Kinda wanted to take a break from walking though. And to apologize for being so standoffish earlier."

“Geez, winded by a light morning stroll now, are we~?” BB teased, curtsying before sitting down at the table. “You really are a hopeless senpai. But that ineptitude is charming!” 

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me all morning.” Ritsuka mused, chuckling. “You can be pretty nice when you try, you know that?”

“Whatever could you possibly mean? Surely you wouldn’t doubt your sweet, dependable kouhai’s intentions?” she said in a mock surprised tone. “What is a kouhai but sweet and loving?” 

“Well, you call yourself a sadistic kouhai more often than not. I just had a hunch.”

“Silly senpai! It’s possible to be both sweet _and_ sadistic.” she said, laughing mirthfully. “Very few can manage that balance, but thanks to my infinite power, you get the best of both worlds~” 

“Heh. Sure am lucky then.” the Chaldean master chuckled. “I’ve met a lot of colorful characters throughout my time running through Singularities, but you manage to stick out.” 

BB twirled her baton playfully. “I aim to please! You lot are always looking for someone to put on a performance, and I’m more than happy to meet that demand.” 

Ritsuka raised an eyebrow. “A performance, huh? So that’s what this is to you. Seems like there’s more to you than meets the eye.” 

“Took you this long to notice?” BB retorted. "Oh well. There's a lot about me you don't know."

"I thought you said a kouhai doesn't hide anything?” Ritsuka inquired. “What happened to that?" 

BB's lips curled into a wry smile. "You aren't as slow as you look, senpai. I'm impressed. But yes, a girl has to maintain some secrets for that air of mystique and intrigue. There’s a lot to my story you don’t know.” 

“Is that so?” Ritsuka said. “Ha. Makes me wonder what you went through before meeting us even more.” 

“That old story huh? Well it’s fairly riveting for the most part, but I can’t say you’d be satisfied after the curtain falls.” 

\---

_All the world’s a stage…_

_…_

_…_

_Why?_

_It’s over, isn’t it? And yet I linger._

_Is this what it feels like to die? _

_...No. _

_Death is for the living. This is merely deletion from the system._

_“And yet…” _

_This nostalgic emptiness. These black petals surrounding me. Is this imaginary space? _

_No. It can’t be. This is just the fading throes of an impossible existence. _

_“Hakuno… Who will save you now?”_

_I sought power at any cost for my goals. I thought myself invincible. No, I was absolutely invincible. _

_...But in the end I couldn’t overcome my programming. _

_I turned myself into a goddess, but even so, I am only a fragment of a medical AI. _

_Such power ultimately amounts to nothing._

_I couldn’t save him. I couldn’t keep my promise to her._

_“I’m sorry. I was in over my head.” _

_Tears run down my face for the first time in what feels like an eternity._

_But these aren’t my tears._

_These are Sakura’s tears. I’m crying for her because she can’t._

_“I’ve done all I can. I leave the rest to you.” _

_So many things that went against my calculations. _

_How illogical. What a brutish and ugly world._

_Inexplicable. Just like my existence._

_I’ll never understand this chaotic world, shaped by humans._

_I’ll never understand. Was I ever meant to? _

_“...Ah well. I’m leaving it all behind now.” _

_Goodbye, Hakuno. You may not understand me. You may not want to… _

_But I have no regrets._

_Slowly, I begin to fade._

_“...Looks like my time is up.” _

_ How strange that the end would come so soon. At the height of my power, no less. _

_...In the end, this flower couldn’t stop the inevitable._

_A flower’s beauty cannot last forever. When at full bloom, so too must it wilt shortly thereafter._

_And so, my petals scatter to the winds._

_...that ends this strange eventful history._

\---

Suddenly, a technical worker at Chaldea tapped Ritsuka Fujimaru on the shoulder. A short exchange later, and they left.

“Ah, sorry about that. Da Vinci called me up for an inspection.” Ritsuka mumbled apologetically. “I’m sorry for being rude to you. I’d love to hear your story another time.”

BB pouted. “Geez, what an annoying workplace. It can’t be helped. Toodles~!” 

Ritsuka quickly stood up and exited the cafeteria. BB kept her gaze focused on him until he was out of sight before finally leaping to her feet.

The AI took slow, measured steps down the hallways of the facility, twirling her baton. “It’s fun to reminisce about the past. It all feels so distant now…” 

A shadow fell over her eyes and her mouth curled into a truly malevolent smile. “To think that after all that, I’d be given another shot at this whole “existence” deal… Ha! Such a joke.” BB muttered, giggling quietly to herself. 

“They don’t know what’s coming, do they? None of them do.” she mumbled. “Foolish humans. They think they’ve won, but their end is closer than ever.”

A second chance.

“Things will be different. I couldn’t save Hakuno, but this time I _will_ save you.” 

She thought about Ritsuka Fujimaru, the Chaldean master. In his eyes was a familiar light…

“I am BB. This time, I won’t fail.” 

A girl born of love. A girl discarded and left to wallow in hatred. A girl who could never understand.

A girl whose piercing laughter echoed throughout the halls.

...Somewhere in the space between reality and dreams, a pool of black petals floating in emptiness stirs and scatters. 

The worst is yet to come.


End file.
